Man Cave - Pastor Raymond Woodward

if you would now i've given away more copies of this little book called a tale of three kings than probably any other book in my lifetime it's a wonderful little book and i'm getting used to a new clicker tonight so you pardon me uh tale of three kings by an author named gene edwards i've given away more of those than any other book that i've ever given especially the young ministers and young leaders to read because at least in my opinion gene edwards does a better job than any other author i've read in portraying god's purpose for one of the most difficult periods of david's life edward's writing is powerful it is poetic it's even prophetic and so i want to begin by borrowing a few phrases a few paragraphs actually from him as we find david not on the throne of israel but earlier than that we find him in the middle of his fugitive years and here's what gene edwards writes god has a university it's a small school few enroll even fewer graduate very very few indeed in god's sacred school of submission and brokenness why are there so few students because all students in this school must suffer much pain david was once once a student in this school and saul was god's chosen curriculum to crush david and so as saul grew in madness and malice david grew in submission and brokenness perhaps you like most people have your eyes on the wrong king saul and as long as you look at your king saul whoever that may be you will blame him and him alone for your present difficulties young leaders do this all the time when they get frustrated with god's process because it's always easier to blame someone else isn't it but be very careful because god has his eyes fastened on a different king saul not the one who is throwing spears at you not the one who has forced you to flee into the wilderness not even the one who is trying to kill you no god is looking at another king saul he's looking at the one who is just as bad or maybe even worse you see god is looking at the king saul in you david the sheepherder would have grown up to become king saul ii except that god cut away the saul inside david's heart that operation by the way took years to perform and was a brutal experience that almost killed the patient and what was the scalpel that god used to cut away this inner saw why god used the outer saw of course and so tonight we find david running running through soggy fields and slimy riverbeds through dark forests and dry deserts rain water digging up roots and eating the tough meat of every creature he can find in the barren wilderness and we find david hiding crawling through briars and mud sleeping in trees and fields and hiding in dusty ravines and dirty caves and he doesn't dare stop or saul will catch him and kill him these were david's darkest hours we know them today as his pre-king days but he didn't know them as that in his pain david assumed that running and hiding would be his fate forever but what he couldn't see was that suffering was slowly giving birth to royalty for it was in those fields and those caves that david the fugitive became the greatest hymn writer heart comforter and god worshiper that the world would ever know it wasn't so in the beginning in fact if news magazines had been around in ancient israel for months their covers would have featured the face of david the giant slayer their feature articles would have interviewed the young women who sang about the exploits of this handsome national hero yes david was the man that women adored and men admired and god had already chosen him to follow saul as the next king of israel he'd already been anointed by the prophet samuel so no doubt david thought that this fame and notoriety was probably all part of god's plan but then a few spears aimed at david by jealous king saul changed everything saul's jealous rage caused him to become obsessed with destroying david after surviving several near-death encounters david did the only thing he could do he ran he had to leave behind his best friend jonathan and his wife michael who was almost immediately given to another man the wilderness was the only place he could survive but the wilderness is a very very inhospitable place so after months of being on the run david finally did something insane he fled to his enemies for help imagine david the giant slayer turning up in goliath's hometown of gath the capital of the philistines and asking for their assistance but that's exactly what he did thankfully at the very last moment david realized this is a very bad idea so when he was about to be presented to king achish of gath the bible says david changed his behavior pretended to be a madman scratched his fingernails wildly on the gate of the city and let spittle run down his beard and thankfully they thought exactly what it appeared to be that he was insane that the great warrior had become a greater lunatic and they released him rather than putting him to death but make no mistake brothers and sisters this was one of the lowest points of david's life he has hit bottom and there is no way out and that's how david ends up in a cave surrounded by distress and debt and discontentment and we pick up his story in first samuel 22. david therefore departed thence and escaped to the cave of doolam and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it they went down thither to him and everyone that was in distress and everyone that was in debt and everyone that was discontented they gathered themselves unto him and he became a captain over that motley crew and there were with him about 400 men now i know tonight the modern definition of man cave it's a garage or a spare room somewhere in the house where a man can retreat when he wants to be alone or where male family members and their friends are supposed to be able to relax and do as they please without fear of upsetting any female members of the household with their activities or their interior decor ideas but david's man cave is not nearly so comfortable it's a place of crippling fear and crushing loss shattered dreams inexplicable pain paralyzing discouragements mind-boggling questions and soul-numbing doubt that's david's man cave it's a place of dirt and darkness cold and confusion it's a cave that's filled with hurt and hiding and fear and failure and loss and loneliness it is a place that could easily devour a man's spirit and david is stuck in that cave for six long months now when the coast is clear david can poke his head outside the entrance of that cave and he can look eastward toward bethlehem about 13 miles away the town where he spent his boyhood years the fields where he tended sheep and first learned how to play the harp the hills and valleys where he honed his skill with a slingshot and killed a lion and a bear to protect the flock and he can look out in the distance 13 miles away and he can remember vividly a hundred solitary places where he sang his songs and prayed his prayers to god until he finally became a man after god's own heart he can also look northward from that cave and he can just catch a glimpse of the valley of elah in the distance it's only about two miles away the site of the greatest day in david's life the subject of songs known by every citizen of israel the spot where the enemy threatened and the slingshot world and the stone landed and the giant fell and the philistines ran the place where the victory was won and the legend was born that was the day he knew for sure that he was anointed by god to lead a nation and impact his world but those majestic moments are now just misty memories for david he has been declared a public enemy by king saul and a cowardly fool by king achish of gath so david is a fugitive from not one but two nations now he has been forsaken by the sovereign he served and forsaken by the soldiers he fought beside and now a maniacal monarch named saul has placed a bounty on his head and has marshaled every single resource of the kingdom of israel to chase david down and exact his revenge all for something david didn't even do and that's why david the giant slayer has now become david the cave dweller isn't it amazing how quickly life can conspire against any one of us and push us into a cave isn't it frustrating to realize just how fast you can fall from a high mountain of victory to a deep valley of discouragement can we be honest isn't it a bit embarrassing to look back on those low moments of your life and remember the depressing thoughts and the desperate feelings and the dumb decisions you made or maybe you don't have to look back because you're stuck in a cave right now while you're here at church or watching online tonight it's not pretty it's not pleasant and it's definitely not something you're proud of but let's be honest for somebody here i knew you would be here you're either in this room or in that other room or you're watching me right now online if i can say it this way i felt your heart today while i was finishing this message right now your life is dark your situation is difficult your mind is confused and if we could be honest your spirit is is cold what are you supposed to do anyway when you're stuck in a stupid cave and there's no way out and i would say a couple of things to you tonight first please know that cave time is core curriculum in god's school of spiritual maturity you will end up there sometime some way somehow you can call it whatever you want because the bible calls it different things the pit the prison the desert the valley the wilderness the den of lions the fiery furnace but whatever you call it being stuck in the cave is basic training for every believer whoever sets out to follow our lord jesus christ the cave is a place of death where you die to yourself the cave is a place where your motives are exposed your character is discovered and your maturity is revealed the cave penetrates you and it shows you every mislaid dedication it strips you of every misplaced dependency where you depended on the arm of flesh instead of the strength of the lord and it separates you from every misguided desire you learn a lot about yourself in the cave the cave teaches you something that you need to know it teaches you just how much more work god still has to do in you to get you ready for what he wants to do next in your life the cave breaks you down in order to build you up the cave frustrates you in order to make you fruitful the cave lets you know that when god is all you have god is all you need the cave almost succeeds in killing you but in the end it gives birth to a man or a woman after god's own heart so i say emphatically to everybody listening to me tonight god does some of his best work in caves even though we don't like them but if you're in a cave and you're complaining to everybody else but god about it then you are missing a great opportunity to grow did you know that david wrote three of his most moving psalms during that six months in the cave of adulum they show us david moving from devastated to victorious they show us david on his face they show us david on his knees and finally they show us david on his feet these three songs or prayers they teach us how to negotiate the cave seasons in our own lives the first one is psalm 142. this is the first one that he wrote in the cave it's devastating and if you notice in your bible in that king james version of the scripture if you've got that classic edition of the english bible there's a little note before each of these psalms and this one says mascule of david a prayer when he was in the cave and here's what he writes i cried unto the lord with my voice with my voice unto the lord did i make my supplication i poured out my complaint before him i showed him my trouble and he's just getting started in psalm 142 david lays on his face in that cave and he pours out his heart to god he pours out his emotions he pours out his complaints he pours out every single way that he is feeling that it looks like the enemy is having a heyday and he can't even look up to touch bottom and we learn something from david when he writes psalm 142 probably on his face weeping in that cave here's what we learned from that little psalm tell god exactly how you feel because god already knows all about it anyway let's stop trying to play games with the almighty because he knows when you're mad he knows when you're sad he knows when you're glad he knows when you've been bad he knows it all so you can stop playing games with god and just get brutally honest like david did and if you find yourself in a dark night of the soul or in a dirty cave and you can't find your way out the first thing you need to do is get honest with god and you need to pour out everything to the lord we talk a lot about praising today and i'm glad we do but the bible talks a lot about crying out to the lord that is praise when you're in a difficulty that is a prayer when you're in the darkness that is even pouring out your emotions even when they don't make any sense god wants to hear from you if it's big enough to matter to you it is big enough to matter to jesus and sometimes you just got to get on your face before god and say god i'm not happy about this god i'm not rejoicing today jesus i don't have peace anymore jesus i've lost my victory jesus i've misplaced my song jesus the joy has leaked out of my life so god i don't have anything else to do in this cave except just be honest with you and i'm just going to pour out my complaint god already knows anyway so you might as well get honest with him you might as well tell him exactly what's going on in your heart because you spend far too much time how do i know because you're human that's why and because you're a pentecostal that would be a close second we pour out so many of our problems and so much of our situations and we share the gory details with people who couldn't help us if they had a hundred years they can't do anything except just shrug their shoulders shake their head express a little bit of sympathy and they go on with their life and you're still stuck in the cave but if you could pour out that same complaint before the lord you're talking to somebody who can turn it around you're talking to somebody who can deliver you're talking to somebody who can heal you're talking to somebody who not only understands but he cares and he can do something about it the first psalm that david writes in that dirty dark filthy cave is psalm 142 and we see david on his face and the second psalm he writes in that cave is psalm 57. in psalm 57 the the little note before psalm 57 it says to the chief musician this is a mctom of david when he fled from saul in the cave help me at the back there somebody if you would this thing isn't working this is a myktom of david when he fled from saul in the cave somebody say in the cave in the cave and so one more time we find david writing a song in the cave and this one shows david not on his face pouring out his complaint to god this shows david on his knees repenting this shows david on his knees not just pouring out complaint but now asking god for mercy and asking god to turn the situation around psalm 57 verse 1 and 2 be merciful unto me o god be merciful unto me for my soul trusteth in thee yea in the shadow of thy wings will i make my re my refuge until these calamities be overpassed i will cry unto god most high unto god that performeth all things for me i don't know if you noticed it or not but david's prayer changed from one song to the next this time he's saying god i pulled some dumb stunts god i made some stupid decisions but i'm asking for your mercy but i'm also going to declare this although i don't know why you've got me here i trust in you although i don't know why i'm stuck in this dark cave i trust you and in the shadow of your wings that's where i'm gonna make my refuge i don't feel very good about life right now but in the middle of not feeling good about life i still feel good about god in the middle of not feeling good about chronic pain in the middle of not feeling good about some kind of spiritual disability in the middle of not feeling good about some emotional distress i still can rejoice in god my savior and watch what he says i'm going to stay under the shadow of your wings that's going to be my refuge until these calamities be overpassed this didn't come to stay this has come to pass on and when this is overpassed i am still going to be standing i am still going to be worshiping i am still going to be trusting you notice the change he poured out his complaint but after you poured out your complaint it's time to get on your knees and it's time to say god i don't know what's going on but i trust you i don't know what's going on but i'm asking for you to touch me i don't know what's going on but i'm going to stay here until this passes over and when it does i'm going to have the heart of job though he slay me yet will i trust in him david said i'm going to cry unto god most high unto god that performeth all things for me what we learn from david in psalm 57 is you can ask god to turn your trial into a testimony you can even ask god to turn your mistake into a miracle that's what we learn in this second little psalm that he writes in this dirty dark cave and then he writes another psalm psalm 34 and this psalm shows us not david on his face but david on his feet and the little statement that introduces this psalm if you look in your king james version classic edition of the english bible it says this is a psalm of david when he changed his behavior before abimelech that's that philistine king who drove him away and he departed so right after that that's when he's in the cave and he writes this psalm and this psalm shows us a different david he has laid on his face and he's told god all about it he has laid on his face and he's cried until he cannot cry anymore and some of you have been there and maybe you're there tonight he has laid on his face and his body has been racked with sobs and he has cried bitter tears and he's poured out everything until he's too weak to pray anymore and then he's come back the next day or the next week and he's got to his knees and he started to say god i need to repent here i need to ask for your mercy i need you to turn my mistake into a miracle god i need you to to stay with me here and i'm going to trust you until this passes over but if you'll keep at that long enough you will get to david's third psalm and in psalm 34 you can sense that something has changed and the man hasn't changed it's still david and the situation hasn't changed saul's still looking for him and god hasn't changed because god cannot and will not change so what has changed the man has kept on praying until prayer changed things that is so much a secret of the christian life we think of prayer as some little spiritual exercise and if we're not careful the world will condition us to think that prayer is something you do to make you feel better you may pray and feel worse because the devil doesn't like you praying you may pray and the situation may get worse because the devil will still keep on attacking you but if you keep on praying if you pray without ceasing as the bible says then here's what happens you go from your face to your knees and finally you get yourself back up on your battle weary feet and your attitude changes not because you did anything so great but because you kept at it in prayer and david he's different in this psalm here's what he says i will bless the lord at all times he wrote that in the cave his praise shall continually be in my mouth he wrote that when somebody was chasing him trying to kill him my soul shall make her boast in the lord the humble shall hear thereof and be glad he continues o magnify the lord with me he's got 400 people in that cave it's not a very pleasant environment it's all the distressed and the in debt and the discontented but he gets looking around at everybody that's discontent and everybody that's distressed and this one ray of sunshine in that dismal dark cave is david who says to all of those men o magnify the lord with me and let us exalt his name together because i sought the lord and guess what in prayer i know that he heard me and he hasn't delivered me from saul yet and he hasn't delivered me from the israelite army yet but let me tell you what he has delivered me from he delivered me from all my fears if you can get delivered from your fears you're halfway home if you can get delivered from your fears you're on the brink of a miracle if you can get delivered from your fears you're already getting to your deliverance oh i wish somebody lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the name of the lord oh magnify the lord with me let us exalt his name together i worship you god i worship you god i know you've got a mask on i know it sounds muffled you know what that means means you need to work a little harder on it just lift up your voice and pray just lift up your voice and worship god wants to deliver somebody from crippling paralyzing fear the devil's told you you're going to die the devil told you you're never going to get well the devil told you your child is never coming back to church the devil has told you that you're going to die with your mind messed up the devil's told you that you can't break that bonus the devil is a liar and the father of every lie you've ever heard so when you get in that situation you're gonna pray until you can climb up on your feet and say the lord has heard me and the lord has delivered me from all my fear oh my goodness david goes on you can read all this stuff when you go home i don't have time tonight we'd be here till midnight the angel of the lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them and then he looks at all those men in that dirty dark cave and he says to them you know they've been eating roots and tree leaves and all kinds of animals that they've scrounged up and killed and he says the food hasn't been that great for this last few months guys but i got something that tastes pretty good oh taste and see that the lord is good blessed is the man that trusteth in him oh he's still talking about trust in god but before he was talking about trusting god through tears now he's prayed long enough now he's gone to god consistently enough that now he can pray in confidence now he can pray from a position of victory now he can pray knowing that he knows that he knows that god is going to deliver him there's a song it's relatively new i think i've been listening to it i listened to it several days this week while i was studying for this message you turn mourning to dancing you give beauty for ashes you turn shame into glory and god you're the only one who can you turn graves into gardens you turn bones into armies you turn seas into highways god you're the only one who can there's somebody here either in this building or our other building or somebody watching me online right now and i know just as sure as i'm preaching a sermon that you are in a cave and you feel like you can't get out that you are in a cave and you feel like the walls are closing in that you are in a cave and the devil has been tormenting you for weeks now and saying you'll never make it you're never coming out of it that prayer is never going to be answered get on your face pour it all out to god then get on your knees and ask god for help but finally don't miss the final song get on your feet and say god i'm going to praise you in the middle of my trial i'm going to praise you in the darkness of this cave i am going to worship you if it kills me i am going to keep on praising you sure enough the prophet gad david's friend showed up and the prophet gad came right after this it's the next verse or two and gad said to david abide not in the hole that stronghold don't stay here in this stronghold don't stay here in this cave depart and get thee into the land of judah the old prophet of god gad he came to david and he had a word from the lord don't you plan on living in this cave any longer don't you plan in just kind of making your bed and setting up camp and planning for any more time because god has sent a word to you he's going to deliver you from this cave so don't you settle down when god is getting ready to move you out guess where god wants to take you to he wants to take you to the land of judah he wants to take you to the place of praise he wants to take you out of this trial so that you have such a testimony that it shakes hell and it rocks the world of a bunch of people that you know so hang on because god is getting ready to take you out of the cave you don't have to even look like you believe it i believe it enough for you god is getting ready to take you out of the cave god is getting ready to turn that disaster into a deliverance to turn that mess into a miracle god is getting ready to do it don't stay in your cave if you got to be in a cave for a while and everybody gets there make your cave a stopover on your way to the place of praise i don't know where you are tonight i know some of you you feel like the bottom has fallen out but i want to tell you something you can praise god on credit you can worship god in advance you don't have to wait until your emotions catch up pour your emotions out to god but then get on your feet and worship him in spite of everything you're going through would you lift up your hands i'm almost done i've got one more scripture lift up your hands lift up your voice with determination and worship god i know you're in the middle of something or god wouldn't have laid this message on my heart i know you're suffering or god wouldn't have given me this to preach to you i know that you're confused and you feel a little cold and distant from god i got that but in the middle of all that feeling in the middle of all that situation somebody can worship god in spite of it all if you can't worship god for it worship god in spite of it if you can't worship god because of it worship god in spite of it if you can't worship god because your trial happened worship god in the middle of your trial oh my my my my no we need to practice for about five minutes from now i need you to reach over and take the hand of somebody that's in your bubble they're sitting right beside you you ate breakfast with them this morning you will not die if you touch them i want you to take the hand of somebody and lift it with your hand right now they're in your bubble i'm not asking you to break any rules out in the foyer i'm not asking you to break any rules at home you're already there i'm asking you to take the hand of somebody and i'm asking you to pray together there is a word of deliverance for some married couples in our church and connected to our church family tonight i felt it so strong when i was praying over this i felt it so strong when i was studying this so i want you to join your hand married couple i don't know what you're going through in your home i don't know what you're going through with your kids i don't know what you're going through with your finances but i want you to pray together right now are you ready let's lift up our hands and lift up our voices together and pray god has a delivering word for somebody tonight in the name of jesus in the name i'm not even asking for a 25-second response to make the preacher feel like he did okay i'm asking for you to push through in the spirit until you feel god moving in your situation i'm asking you to push through in the spirit until you sense god is going to look after this i've been in the cave for as long as i can remember it's been weeks of coldness and months of darkness but hear me devil i am coming out of this and i am heading for a place of praise i can't hear you out in the foyer but i trust that you're lifting your hands and you're lifting your voice and you're worshiping god because i don't know who this word is going to ignite in tonight but i know it's going to be somebody in the name of jesus in the name of jesus my goodness if you ever doubt that god can use your dead-end cave to open a door of deliverance if you ever doubt it just remember there is an empty cave on the outskirts of the city of jerusalem it was as dead end as you could get for three days that cave held the mangled body of a crucified savior but don't ever forget that our god does some of his best most amazing most miraculous work in caves including restoration and resurrection if you handle the cave correctly it becomes the door to your destiny and the reason for your rejoicing final scripture jesus stood at the tomb the cave holding his friend lazarus and when he had thus spoken he cried with a loud voice saying lazarus come forth oh my goodness that word ignited in my spirit for somebody that's listening to me tonight come forth it is your time to come out of that situation you have been under that long enough you have been under that for a long time and it has seemed hopeless it has seemed pointless but god has a word for you tonight but it's going to involve you getting up on your feet like lazarus did and he was still bound with great grave clothes but he started walking can you imagine how stupid that looked can you imagine how awkward that was but lazarus bound in a burial shroud he started shuffling his way out to the door of that cave and when he got outside jesus said now that he's obeyed my voice now that he's made the effort to head for the entrance of that cave loose him and let him go so i do have a word for somebody come out and god will loose you and let you go but you got to stand on your feet and you've got to head for the entrance of that cave that's what you've got to do i am done preaching i want you to lift up your hands right now i've got just enough stubbornness in me i've just got enough anointing on me and enough holy ghost around me that i'm just gonna push a little and i don't think you folks are resistant but i know the devil would like us to have a cute little service and a quaint little sermon and go home unchanged and i categorically in jesus name i refuse in the name of the wave walker and the grave opener i refuse in the name of jesus not when some of god's good people are here not when some of god's great saints are listening to me one more time take the hand of some people in your bubble and i want you to grab their hand and i want you to hang on for dear life and then i want you to raise that hand and connect with god the same way you're connecting with them in the name of jesus in the name of jesus in the name of jesus in the name of jesus come out of your cave in the name of jesus come out of your cave in the name of jesus come out of your addiction that has crippled you and you are bound by fear come out in the name of jesus come out of that hidden secret sin that is causing you so much guilt and shame come out of that in the name of jesus the word of god to you will be loose him loose her and let them go it is your night just as sure as pastor is yelling at you it is your night just as sure as you drove up to 71 downing or you turned on your computer it is your night stand with me in this building right now mandarin in the name of jesus in the name of jesus in the name of jesus i want you to turn i'm not asking you to touch anybody or get too close to anybody we're distanced and we're distanced in the lobby but i want you to turn and i want you to lift your hands towards somebody else some other family some other person i just want you to turn you can turn around you can turn left you can turn right but i want you to lift up your hands and i want you to pray over them there is a delivering word for our church here tonight there is a delivering word for somebody here tonight there is a miracle in the making for somebody here right now if you can't see anybody to pray for if you can't think of anybody to pray for pray for somebody that's suffering in their body pray for somebody that is bound by fear pray for somebody whose family is falling apart we've got needs but we've got a big god yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes oh i thank you folks for praying go ahead and hit that song we'll just let it play in the background we'll just put a little music on so you can pray i want you right now to just lift up your voice give it everything you've got i know you got that dumb mask on i i know that but i want you to pray right now you just let the music play but you pray because god is given a deliverance to somebody here tonight god has given a deliverance to somebody here tonight yes yes yes

Channel: Capital Community Church

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Keywords: capital, community, church, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick, canada, upc, upci, united, pentecostal, church, international, apostolic, christian, preaching, sermons, sermon, raymond, woodward, jack, leaman, matthew, woodward, bible, study, biblical teaching, bible, study

Id: 2UMsHTdZSto

Length: 43min 52sec (2632 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 28 2021